Through the eyes of a broken heart
by Aderal Adrian
Summary: Kakayu is a cat demon, daughter of a great lord cat demon. In her attempt to gain power like her father, she works under Naraku to acquire jewel shards
1. Chapter 1

"I don't understand!" I yelled.

"Kakayu," Father said in annoyance "stop your whining."

"No! You need to explain to me why I'm not as strong as you are." I was always envious of my father's power. I knew that probably being his daughter, I would never amount to the same greatness as he. I couldn't help but dream though. My father was Lord Bushou, the lord of the northern cat demon tribe. He was given the title of being the strongest demon in existence, because he was able to tap into the cat demons true power without losing his self being. In the past, there was only one other demon able to do that. It was rumored that my father was the reincarnation of that demon.

Father would tell me wonderful stories about his life. He and his twin brother, Baiyou, were born into what they call a pure blood family. This means he was not born of parents who had a human form, rather he was born to parents who were of cat form. They had siblings that looked like cats, like our servant and protector cat demons. Their family was taken in by a human lord, and they became the village guardians. It was the lord who gave my father and uncle their names. Until one day, the village was pillaged and my father and his family had to leave.

They were happy, though, living in the wild. One day, once father and uncle were older, they encountered three dog demons. A father, and twin sons; the twin sons were named InuTaisho and InuTachi. The father of the two was monstrous, and ordered his sons to attack father and his family. Father and uncle fought in defense, and the dog demons disappeared.

Later in life, the twins became dog rulers of the west and east; InuTaisho ruled the west and his brother ruled the east. It was at that time, father lived in the northern cat tribe with half of his siblings and mother while uncle lived in the southern cat tribe with the rest of the family. InuTaisho approached the lord of the cat demon tribe, asking for an alliance in a war against the wolverine demons.

"I was confused," Father would tell me "at that time, there was no war. But Taisho definitely had intuition, and knew that the wolverines would strike soon. And our alliance was powerful, no doubt. The two dog demon tribes, and three of the cat demon tribes; the cat demon tribe of the east would never go into battle, they were peaceful and kind. But those demons were not born to fight, they are weak."

The battle against the wolverine demons waged for centuries. The leader of the wolverines would capture, torture, and kill any cat or dog demons he could get his hands on.

"I knew he was just waiting, waiting for the lords to have children so he could capture them as prisoners. But that wouldn't be for another century. He was willing to wait that long though."

"Are you listening to me?!" I screamed "Tell me why you have all the power and I have none!"

"Kakayu, you are plenty powerful. Just look at your sister," He looked over to my sister, KaLa. She looked too different from me to be considered my twin. Her ears were a different color than mine, and she had a tail. She always walked around with a smile on her face…and was a complete pansy when it came to battle. "Compared to her, you're the most powerful demon."

"Anyone compared to that pathetic excuse for a cat demon is more powerful! Compared to you, father, I'm nothing!"

"Don't be so cross."

"It's the truth! One day father, I'll prove to you that I am just as powerful as you. No matter what it takes."

"Kakayu," His expression becomes serious and he deepens his voice "Your conquest for power will destroy you, and hurt the people you care about."

"That's impossible," I mumble "I don't care about anyone."

"We'll see about that, daughter."

"What exactly do you think I'm going to do? It's not like I'm going to kill my family to prove I have power."

I started to daydream again, about father's stories. It was in the middle of the war, times were hard and the cat and dog demons lived together for support. Food was running scarce, and demons were dying because of the war. The cat demon leader had been slain in battle, and the cat demons were in debate about who should take over.

"Taisho would tease me, say that I should volunteer. But I knew I wouldn't pass any kind of test they would put me through. I got scared easily, and had nowhere near the power my brother had. He was always stronger, faster, and wiser. That's why he became the cat demon leader of the southern tribe. I was envious of him, but I was more proud of him than anything.

"I had a strange feeling one day, like something bad was going to happen. And it did. A mountain demon came, and when I say mountain demon I mean it literally. He was enormous, and the size of a mountain. He was a plant demon, somehow mutated into some homicidal being. I pitied him; he had no control over what was happening to him. My tribe fought him, but he was ruthless. He slaughtered one after the other. I joined in the attempt too, and he struck me hard and fast. Taisho came to my aid as I lay half-dead on the ground. Then my pulse started racing, and I blacked out. When I came to again, I was in my demonic form. But this wasn't my normal demonic form. I had unleashed the cat demons true power and defeated the mountain demon. The tribe was watching me, preparing to attack and kill me as needed. For, you see, any person that ever unleashed the cat demons true power lost themselves and would kill until they are killed. All except for one demon, thousands of years ago. But I hadn't lost myself, I was aware of what I was doing. I saw something shining in the corpse of the mountain demon, and I relieved myself into my usual form. Everyone in the tribe watched me in awe as I somehow was able to bring myself back to normal. I didn't take the time to talk to them, because in the corpse of the mountain demon what the infamous Shikon no tama."

It was a unanimous decision among the tribe that father would have the power to be the cat demon leader. And everyone was happy with that, but father was overwhelmed. He had ultimate power right underneath him, with a tribe and a powerful gem. He didn't know what the best was for his tribe.

I noticed at this point, I was walking in the woods although I don't remember ever walking away from my father. I didn't mind though, I was lost in my fathers' memories.

Father and InuTaisho were very good friends. There was a time of peace during the war for about fifty years, and they spent time apart. When Taisho returned, he had sons; twins of course. They were named Sesshomaru and Itsuyu. Itsuyu was a special demon, one of the few chosen at birth to be elemental.

"Taisho told me how it happened, when he found out his son was an elemental demon. He said there were no words to describe what happened. It was a ritual, and all he could see was a yellow sphere like the sun entered Itsuyu's body. And a voice inside his head, that told him the truth behind his sons' existence. He was such a wonderful father to those boys, and it made me realize how much I wanted children of my own."

Father never expected to find a wife, but that was the last thing on his mind when he found my mother. The war had taken a turn for the worse, and as the tribe leader my father was under a lot of pressure to act. He performed well under the pressure, and succeeded many times in battle.

"The one thing I was never prepared for was when I fell for your mother." He would always stop to smile at me, and he would always have tears in his eyes "I fell for her hard. And when you and your sister were born, I felt it was the greatest accomplishment of my life. And I was happy, despite the war still waging as strong as it was. "He would then pause, and his smile would vanish "And the day she died was the worst day of my life. And I promised myself, as well as your mother, that I would be a great father."

As me and my sister grew older, we were prepared to go into battle. Taisho and his sons trained with us, and I grew close to Sesshomaru. He and his brother were wonderful to be around, always fun and making us laugh. But they knew when it was time to be serious, and they proved to be a good match in battle. And in our first battle, we were very victorious. Taisho managed to capture the wolverine leaders' sons, but unfortunately Sesshomaru was captured too. Unlike the wolverines, we did not torture our prisoners; we simply contained them as a means to get back our prisoners.

I was there the day the war ended, and the prisoners were exchanged. The wolverine leader came to us with a peace statement, and we had won. The younger of his two sons, however, refused to return to his father; he claimed that as being prisoner among us, he was treated better than living among his father. He was gladly accepted into our tribe, under my fathers' rule. When Sesshomaru returned to us, he was never the same. He wouldn't smile, he wouldn't talk, he lost all emotion; I can't even imagine the horrors he must have gone through for him to act this way.

Father remained in possession of the Shikon no tama, mainly because he didn't want any other demon to abuse it. Father would never use it himself because he knew of its destructive power. He found a good solution to this problem, and he had me travel with him to the human village of the demon slayers. Father then entrusted the jewel to the lord of that village, and offered an alliance between the cat demons and demon slayers. Father assured them that the cat demons would never attack humans. To build that trust, we gave them a few of our servant cat demons.

I've heard since then the jewel has been in different hands. The demon slayers gave the jewel to a priestess, and when she died the jewel was burned with her. Her reincarnation brought the jewel back, and then shattered it.

"The jewel…" I said out loud, unaware I wasn't alone"If I had just a piece of the jewel, I would be stronger than father."

"Is that what you want?"

"Who said that?!" I jumped from where I was sitting and took a fighting stance. The voice sent chills down my spine, I didn't trust whoever this person was.

"If it is power you seek, I can give it to you."

"Yes I am seeking power; I will not be given it!" I snapped back "Show yourself!" A man in a white baboon pelt approached me, and from under the pelt his hand reached out and he held nearly a dozen jewel shards. I stared in awe, and unknowingly walked closer to the man and lowered my arms out of fighting stance.

"You say you wouldn't have me give you power, so how about you earn these jewels from me?"

"How would I do that?"

"Serve under me and you shall receive these gems as you accomplish tasks." I stopped to think about his offer. It was fair, but I still wasn't sure if I could trust his intentions. After all, what does he need me for?

"If you have so many of the shards, why don't you use them yourself?"

"Because I want to help you…Kakayu is it?"

"Why?"

"Does there have to be a reason?"

"Of course!"

"I need someone with power to defeat my enemies, and you have more power than all my servants combined. And with you at my side, we will be formidable."

"We? I don't want team power."

"You will have your power, and I will have mine. Think about my offer, and give me an answer tomorrow at this time." With that, the man disappeared into the darkness of the forest. I attempted to follow him to ask more questions, but it was almost as if he vanished into air. I figured it was better off that way; I wasn't in the mood to kill some lowly demon that needs other people to achieve greatness.

On my way back to the village, I ran into my sister. I decided it was best to ignore her, and I needed to speak to my father again. By then I pretty much decided that if someone is truly great they achieve it on their own, not with the power of jewel shards. I would just need to ask father how long it would take before I would be able to unleash my true power just as he had. Once I can do that, I will surpass his power.

"Father?" I questioned as I walked into the hall of the castle.

"Kakayu," he smiled at me "I hope you're feeling better. Don't be discouraged just because you're not as strong as I am now. One day you will be."

"One day?!" I realized he was right, it would probably take me centuries before I could amount to the power I wanted. But I knew there had to be a trick to get to where I wanted. "Father, you need to tell me how I unleash the true power so I can be strong now."

"If you try now, the demonic form will devour your soul. You're plenty powerful when you transform anyways, you don't need to reveal your true form."

"Everyone is plenty powerful in their transformation, but we're all the same degree of powerful. Except for you, why do you get to be so special?" He didn't answer me, but he shook his head and began to walk away "You don't have an answer, do you?!" He stopped and glared at me.

"You are selfish, and ignorant. If you really want the power, you find a way to get it. Maybe on your quest you will learn a thing or two about the real pursuit of power."

"I will find a way, and I won't find it by staying here!" With that said, I ran out of the building and into the forest. I hoped that the strange man was still around, and maybe would hear me. I started screaming as loud as I could, still running, and I started crying. I tripped unexpectedly, and landed hard onto the ground. Still crying, I raised myself up; he was standing there.

"Kakayu, why are you crying?"

"Shut up freak!" I screamed as I stood up. I quickly wiped my tears and sweat and stood in front of him. "I've decided to accept your offer."

"That didn't take much thought." I glared at him, and I saw him grin from under the pelt. He then raised the head of the pelt to reveal his face. "My name is Naraku."

"Well, Naraku," I said as I regained my composure "I now serve under you."

"Good. Come with me to the castle, and I will give you your first assignment."


	2. Chapter 2

I was anxious to get started and become more powerful, but it felt as though the walk to Naraku's castle took an eternity. For a man that seemed so adamant about getting what he wanted, he walked unusually slow. What perplexed me more was his baboon pelt; it was so bulky and strange, and it made me angry for a reason unknown to me (probably because the woman in me thought it was tacky, but I was never one for being feminine). I expected him to at least show some courtesy, and talk to me one the way there but he didn't say a word the entire time; this was the reason why the trip took so long.

Without realizing it, I started staring at him. I was trying to figure out the kind of person he was, but it was hard considering I couldn't see his face from under the pelt. I couldn't seem to remember from our brief encounter just hours (or minutes) before what his face looked like.

"Are you mad?" He finally said. My ears perked up and I quickly changed my expression, noticing I had a look of disgust on my face.

"Sorry, I'm thinking about-"

"We've arrived." I moaned after he interrupted me in mid sentence, and I looked around trying to understand where exactly we had arrived. He chuckled, and I watched in awe as a barrier right in front of us dissipated and formed a door. I followed him in, and ran in front of him (finally fed up with his slow walking) so I could get a good view of his castle. I could tell that other demons were lurking about; some of them were lowly and were outside of the barrier. Other demons I sensed were stronger and within the castle.

When I looked back at Naraku, I was surprised to see he had vanished; I didn't mind though, I was a born snoop and I wanted to explore my surroundings. I started with observing the outside of the castle; it reminded me a lot of my fathers' castle, and I was curious as to how a demon came across this castle. It was obviously a human built castle, so I just assumed that Naraku killed the humans and took over or something along those lines. I honestly didn't care so much about how he got it, but I was glad.

I could feel eyes watching me, and I assumed that they were Naraku's, but I became paranoid after remembering that there were other demons wandering around. I tried my best to ignore it and continue my explorations, but the voices were harder to ignore. Although they were not talking to me, I could her a few people having a conversation; I couldn't tell if there were two or three people.

"So, you're the new slave around here, huh?"

"What?!" I was highly offended by this girls' statement, so I snapped around and raised my claws as if to attack.

"Kayasha," I heard Naraku say, in a very serious tone "You will treat her with respect." I glared at the dog demon, she seemed strangely familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on how I knew her. It didn't matter though, I already decided from that point on that she and I would probably never get along. She didn't reply to Naraku, but gave me a smug look and walked away.

"So Naraku," I said "What's my first assignment?"

"Not yet, you're not ready for anything yet."

"But you said-"

"Tonight you will rest, and tomorrow I will send you and Kayasha out on tasks." I could feel my rage trying to tear free and snap his neck in half, but I kept my outside composure calm.

"I don't want to work with that dog demon; I can do it on my own."

"But I won't allow you to." He paused, and slowly walked towards me. I started to think how peculiar it was that he wasn't wearing a pelt anymore, and how his body features resembled a human more so than any other human-like demon I've ever encountered.

"Why?" I asked as he stood in front of me.

"You said you serve under me, did you not? Would you dare question your masters' word?"

"I never said you were my master."

"But isn't that what I am?" I stopped to consider this, realizing the mistake I had made in words. He was right; I swore myself to him, and I will obey him if I am to get what I really want out of him. I was defeated, and he could see it in my expression. He smirks and raises his arm, and points me in the direction of the castle. My ears twitched and pressed against my head, and I made my way toward the entrance of the castle.

"This won't last forever, Naraku; I refuse to let that happen."

"I know," from behind he directed me through the castle; I only assumed he has a room for me to stay in "I have a surprise for you when you get in your room. It's the room at the end of the hallway; unfortunately I have other business to attend to. I will not be seeing you until tomorrow. Sleep well." My ear perked up suddenly and I twisted around to find that Naraku had already vanished.

"He's like a fucking ninja…" I said to myself as I turned back around. Walking into the room, there was no surprise as to its contents other than something lying on the bed. Looking closer at it, I realized it was a kimono; blue shirt, black pants and a simple gem necklace. This pleased me, because I never liked the kimono that my father made me wear. As a woman, I was expected to wear an elegant dress kimono which was particularly hard to battle in. For as long as I could remember, I asked for the same kind of kimonos that men wore. I guess now I can do what I want since I left father.

Father…I bet he would be disappointed in me for what I did. It wasn't any of his business anymore though, I am an adult demon and I am more than capable of taking care of myself. I've stayed at my fathers' side for hundreds of years and still he treats me as though I'm a child. Well, I'm going to prove to everyone that I'm the farthest thing from being a child.

The next thing I could remember was waking up to the sun in my eyes. I groaned, and then jumped up remembering about my new outfit. I started to get undressed, when I heard someone coming up the hallway. I didn't pay much mind to it, because most likely whoever it was probably wasn't coming to see me; at least that's what I though.

"Ah!!" I heard a voice yell. I covered myself up the best I could and turned my head around. I grunted to see the dog demon in my doorway.

"What do you want?" I snapped.

"I just wanted to let you know," she started to say, while keeping her gaze to the ground "that Naraku has something he wants us to do today so you need to get ready."

"Alright," I looked at her confused, and for some reason I felt bad "You know, we're both girls. It's not like you have to look away ashamed to see me undressed."

"I know."

"Whatever," I looked back and undressed, and reached down to grab my pants.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

"Breakfast…?" I stopped to think; remembering I usually only ate once every couple days due to scarcity in the village. I shook my head "I don't need anything."

"I'll bring you something anyways."

"No."

"It's Naraku's orders."

"Are you his slave too?"

"Yes, but I'm just like you. All I want is power. But," she paused and looked down again "somehow, he acts different with you."

"How do you figure?"

"It's hard to explain, but it's nothing really."

"Alright," I was in the process of putting on my shirt, when I noticed the gem necklace on the floor. I picked it up and started to admire its simplicity; it had a pinkish tint on a black string. It had white in the center, almost like an albino cat eye.

"Is something wrong?" I was quickly bright back into reality and I looked back up at Kayasha.

"Everything is fine." I put the necklace around my neck, and Kayasha gave me a weird look and walked away. She came back a minute later and handed me a bowl of rice and left the room before I could thank her. I sat down on my bed while I ate, regularly looking down at my chest to take another glance at the gem. I wondered why Naraku would get me something so pretty, maybe he just wanted to make sure I was settled and it was a gift of thanks. Whatever the reason, I was grateful.

I ate slowly; I was content with where I was right now, with the sun beaming in through the window and warming me as I ate the rice grain by grain. The necklace glittered, and I swore I heard my name whispered in the wind. I felt euphoric at that point, as though under some sort of trance. I knew from that point on my life would never be the same, but I wasn't afraid of the change to come. I was embracing fate, and I had plans in store for the future.

I jumped up, spilling the rest of my food on the floor, and ran through the castle into the courtyard where I encountered Kayasha and another woman. I stopped running before I reached them and walked the rest of the way. I observed the new woman from head to toe; I could tell I hated her more than the dog demon.

"Her name is Kagura," Kayasha said, pointing towards the other woman "She's Naraku's incarnation, a wind demon."

"It's beyond me why Naraku would ask a cat a dog for help," Kagura said. I gave her a death glare, but she didn't once look at me in the eyes.

"Kakayu," Kayasha brought my attention back to her, but for the most part my evil glare continued; I still couldn't get myself to like her either. "Naraku wants us to find jewel shards."

"Fine, let's go." I turned my attention back to Kagura.

"She's not coming," Kayasha said, as if reading my mind "But I still have to put up with you."

"Just stay out of my way." She grunted, and walked past me and I followed her outside of the castle barrier; sooner or later, I wanted to learn how to leave and enter the barrier without an escort. I had no idea where to look for the shards; it had been at least a century since I even saw the jewel. "So where are we going, Kayasha?"

"Call me Kay," She paused and looked at her surrounding and sighed "I have no idea."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Say…"

"What?"

"Can cat demons fly?" I grinned at her. Some cat demons had the ability to fly, depending on their genetics. Like our servant cat demons, we could transform into a larger cat demon and use fire to fly in the air; but, we were an exception to our servants in which we didn't have to transform to use fire to fly.

"I can what about it?"

"It would be faster to find shards if we flew." I didn't want to carry her around. But I didn't want to come back to Naraku empty handed. Plus, if we found at least one shard Naraku might reward me with getting to keep it. I kneeled down without saying anything to her, and she got on my back. I could feel that she was enjoying this, because she knew it was embarrassing to me. But it didn't stop me from lunging in the air and flying at high speeds.

We flew over various human villages without a trace of any shards; then again, we didn't know exactly what we were supposed to be looking for considering most people don't flaunt around their jewel shards. Kay's grip on me kept getting tighter the faster or higher I would fly, and this amused me but I tried not to scare her too bad (although a couple of time I made her scream on purpose).

"Down there!" She yelled suddenly. I wasn't paying attention to what she was looking at, I was distracted by a miniature tornado on the ground; I assumed that's what she meant.

"We don't have time to look, we have to find shards."

"You idiot, that's a wolf demon!" Sure enough, she was right. It was a male wolf demon, rather young, and he stopped to allow his companions to catch up (but they were still quite a bit away). I made a circle in the air to find a decent place to land, and as I reached the ground Kay jumped right off my back and ran toward the wolf demon to attack. I found out fast that his shards were implanted in his legs, which enabled him to move quickly so he avoided the attack with ease.

"What business do you have with me?" The wolf shouted.

"You got speed wolf," I replied "but you got shit for brains."

"We're here for your shards."

"And what makes you think you can keep up with me?" I laughed at him; he obviously had no idea the speed of the cat demons. In a split second I was in front of him and holding him in the air by his throat. He responded quickly, and kicked away from me and jumped backwards. He started to run, but I was instantly right beside him. He had a stupid look on his face; he was sop dumbfounded, he didn't know about the agility of cat demons. I took no pride in this though; I wanted power in the eyes of the strong and not the weak.

Kay ran behind him, and he reacted by jumping in the air. I jumped after him to force him back to the ground so Kay would have a fighting chance against him. When he was back on the ground, Kay chased after him and she was able to keep up. I could tell he was saving his strength to attack instead of run, but I knew if he got the chance he would run away. Before I knew it, Kay had struck him and drawn blood but that didn't keep him down for long. I ran in his direction, and he tried to attack me again but was restrained from the pain of the injury Kay inflicted. I was grateful for her help, even if I didn't need it; I would have to thank her later.

I decided to take a risk to fall on purpose to get close to the wolfs' legs, and it worked to my advantage. In the process of falling and striking his ankles I got a few scratches but I would probably heal before we got back to the castle. The wolf fell too, and he took a hard fall; both of his legs were covered in blood. I stood up and joined Kay and we walked over to his side.

"What are we going to do with you?" I said tauntingly.

"Damn you…" He said, attempting to regain some energy.

"Let's just take his shards and leave."

"Why?" I was somewhat surprised at Kay's suggestion, but then again I didn't know her all too well. She didn't seem like me; I had no problem with killing the wolf if it meant not having to deal with him in the future. Maybe she had more of a conscious than me? Who knows?

"Because," she knelt down to him, and struck his legs one more time to retrieve the shards "there's no point in killing him."

"Whatever," I glanced over at the wolf demon; he looked more humiliated than what he did physically hurt. "Let's head back to Naraku, I'm sure this will please him."

"Alright," I kneeled down again so Kay could get on my back; I figured once again it would be faster to fly than to walk. She was at first reluctant to trust my skills, but didn't fight it. She actually felt tired as we were heading back, and a couple of times she would lean on me and close her eyes. This annoyed me, because she could rest while I was doing all the work.

I could tell that as a fighter, she knew strategy. I wasn't too sure about her actual strength but she was smarter than she looked. As a person though, I could feel something about her that just wasn't right and I couldn't get over that. She would never be my friend in that sense. But it didn't matter, as long as she stayed out of my way when I'm trying to do something. I could respect her, but I couldn't like her…if that made any sense.

"Hey," She said as we approached the castle.

"What?"

"Didn't you think that wolf demon was cute?"


	3. Chapter 3

"What?!" I didn't know how to respond to Kay's question because for quite a few minutes I was in complete shock. Finally, I started laughing nonstop, and I heard her start to growl angrily. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop because this concept seemed so foolish to me. I remember fast that this dog demon was still just a child, and I was close to one-hundred years old; in the demon culture, I was still considered a child, but she was still considered a baby at younger than twenty years old.

I had to land for a while to catch my breath and to stop my laughing. We stopped by a river and I spent some time just looking at myself in the river and admiring the gem around my neck and how it looked in the water reflection. I started to really think about how much I had changed already, and how much more I will change. I used to have to be the typical cat demon girl, and now I'm more of a warrior…or slave. My looks were not completed, my hair needed to change too.

"Kay?"

"Yea?"

"Do you have a knife or something?"

"Yes," she paused to look around and pulled out a knife she had hidden somewhere in her clothes. I jumped up and took it from her and immediately turned my attention back to my reflection in the river. My hair went all down my back, to the point where my legs were starting. I wasn't too careful or remorseful about hacking my hair off, to the point there was very little hair left on my head. I liked the new look, and if it weren't for my eyes then no one would be able to recognize me.

"What do you think?" I asked to my reflection, and to Kay.

"Not bad."

"Not bad at all." Brushing away the last few strands, I noticed something peculiar about the air. "Do you smell that?"

"Yes. You up for another fight?"

"Sure, but with who?" I caught up on the scent of the wolf demon again. There were other people approaching, though. Humans, demons, and…half demons? It didn't matter who they were, all I knew if that they were after our shards. I really didn't feel like dealing with them though.

"Let's go!" Kay shouted.

"No, let's just go back to the castle." I knelt down for her to get on my back.

"What? Why? We can take them on!"

"We have what we need, instead of wasting time we need to get back to the castle."

"Coward!"

"If that's how you feel," I stood back up "feel free to fight them on your own, but I'm going back!" I stared her down, and she knew I was right. I saw her eyes surrender, and I knelt back down and she unwillingly got on my back and I instantly pounced into the air. I circled the area trying to find who was after us. I got a glimpse of them, but didn't want to stay around for them to see us. After we had gotten a good distance from them, I suddenly panicked; that is, until I had remembered what I had done. I had forgotten my hair was barely existent now; I had lived my whole life with it always weighing me down. It felt nice.

We arrived safely and quickly back to the castle. Immediately, Kay took the shards from me and went running to Naraku. I didn't bother to say anything or try to stop her; instead I decided to take a visit to the pond that lay in the center of the castle courtyard. I found a nice boulder and sat down comfortably and awed at my reflection. I could barely recognize myself, and I didn't know if I should enjoy that or be afraid of that.

I heard someone, and my ears forced my head upwards. Looking across the pond I saw a young boy that held the weapons of a demon slayer. He was called inside by Kagura and walked away without even looking in my direction. I shrugged it off, but I was going to have to ask Naraku about the strange company he keeps.

"Hey," Kay said from behind me, "Naraku wants to talk to you." I nodded, but didn't bother to say anything. I sighed because I didn't want to leave the water (I was always the strange cat demon that loved to go swimming) but I stood and headed toward the castle anyways. I was so lost in my thoughts, it surprised me when I didn't trip or run into anything because although I was seeing my path I wasn't really looking. I was stuck on that question of myself; to trust or to fear.

"Nice work." I hear Naraku's voice say. I jumped slightly, not realizing my feet had led me to his room.

"Th-Thanks,"

"You work fast; I suppose I didn't challenge you enough."

"You have underestimated me."

"Indeed," He grinned "I have an assignment for you."

"Another?"

"Yes, except you go alone."

"Sounds good to me, what do you want me to do?"

"I seek a sword with great power. This sword is in the possession of a very powerful demon. Get the sword and kill the demon."

"What sword is it?"

"Tenseiga."

"But that's Sesshomaru's sword!" He chuckled, and nodded. With a heavy heart I nodded, and walked out of the room. I was caught in a real dilemma; physically I was no match for Sesshomaru, I knew I couldn't kill him. But for me to steal his sword would be a horrendous betrayal to our…friendship.

I left the castle, the entire time debating on what I should really do. Sesshomaru knew me well enough to understand that I have a reason for everything, but there was no way of knowing if he could forgive me for it. I didn't know if I could risk everything he and I had because I wanted power. After a while of debating, I knew what I had to do. The only thing I wasn't sure of is if I had the courage to do it or not.

I stopped those thoughts, realizing I had no idea where to find Sesshomaru. Ever since his father died, he's been wandering aimlessly in search of Tetsusaiga. I don't know why InuTaisho left Sesshomaru Tenseiga instead of Tetsusaiga, but knowing him Taisho had a good reason for it. I wonder sometimes what happened to Taisho's half breed son. I've heard stories about him, but last I heard he was put under a spell so might as well be called dead. I always pitied half breeds because I knew their life could never be easy, but I am not a fool. I have faced many half breeds just from my village in combat, but only half the blood they still have all the power. Mostly because they spend their entire lives trying to prove themselves to the world.

Something caught my eye, and I slowed down to look; it was the creature Aun, which I knew was a servant to Sesshomaru. I saw a young mortal girl in Aun's company, and although I was curious I decided against landing there since I didn't see Sesshomaru nearby. I was even more curious because I couldn't pick up on his scent, but I knew that he wouldn't leave his travel company for long. I took shelter in nearby woods so I can observe Aun and the girl from afar. I knew I had to be careful, because Aun recognized my scent and had very acute hearing. I was trained to counteract this, and also cats are well known for being quiet.

After a few hours, I was tempted to walk over to the girl and ask where Sesshomaru was. Night had fallen and I was beginning to get impatient. However, she fell asleep before I had the chance to decide to ask. I decided to leave the girl alone, because this task had nothing to do with her; also, if Aun caught on to my intentions he might attack. I slept in the tree in a light daze well into the night, until I finally fell into a deep sleep.

As soon as I realized I had fallen asleep, I jerked up and in the reaction I feel from the tree. It was morning and had been for some time. I jumped to my feet and looked in the direction where Aun and the girl were the night before. To my dismay, they were no longer there and left no trace of where they might have gone. Just as I thought about heading back to the castle, I heard someone sneak up behind me.

"What are you doing here?" I twisted around to find myself face to face with Sesshomaru. I don't know why I didn't catch on to his scent, but it was probably the fact that I had just woken up and my senses were not as strong as what they used to be. I raised my fist in an attack position, and gave him a stern look.

"Sesshomaru," I stammered, and obvious shaking in my voice "I am under orders t-to…" My voice leveled off as I noticed how he was looking at me. He was confused and he had a strange softness to his expression. He was probably wondering why my looks had changed so much, and why I looked like I was about to attack him.

"I see," He said as he closed his eyes. The softness in his expression changed to indifference, until his eyes opened again and I saw anger.

"Sesshomaru, I am under orders to take Tenseiga from you."

"Well," I could feel my body shaking; it was like he looked right into my soul and knew what I was doing.

"And…"

"You're working for Naraku?"

"Yes…" He was reading my mind, and knew what I was going to say.

"You can't kill me." Sesshomaru reached over and wielded a sword I had never seen before. He and his debonair composure threatened me the most, but I knew I had been a match for him before. But his calmness about fighting me angered me and my fears about losing his trust left me.

"We'll see about that!" I lunged after him, but he moved out of the way quickly. I knew he was as fast as me if not faster, so I knew he might be right. Once I relocated him I jumped and we started to fight in the air. I tried to strike him with my claws, one hand after the other, but he used his sword to block all of my attacks. I realized something was different about his fighting style, and I was surprised to learn that he no longer had a left arm. I wondered for a moment what person might have been strong enough to fight him, and cut his arm off. But in my moment of thought I was caught off guard and he pushed me down to the ground.

I landed roughly and cringed for a moment, but my anger brought me back to my feet quickly. He stood in front of me with a confidence that sent a fire to my self esteem, but I didn't let it hurt my pride. I pounced forward and he jumped backward, this in effect caused me to be hovering slightly above him and his pushed his arm outward and sent me flying upward and I lost my sense of relation to the ground. Again, I landed roughly and I knew what he was doing; he didn't really want to fight me in real combat because he used to do this to me all the time when we would train.

I knew I had to do something to make him understand that this is real, and to treat me as though he is an enemy. I was reminded when I looked at him my goal for fighting him was to retrieve his sword. I knew that if I could get the sword in my possession, they he would realize that we are just kids playing and I'm serious about what I told him.

I started maneuvering myself in a zigzag pattern to confuse him, but he used the same method to confuse me. The only difference was that I wasn't going in an actual pattern, but he was; left, right, left, right. I waited to the right moment and met him at an equal point and pushed myself into him, grabbing Tenseiga in the process, and he fell to the ground. I jumped up, and retreated into a tree just out of his visual field. I secured the sword to my hips and observed him as he got back to his feet.

Sesshomaru took a minute to realize I had taken Tenseiga, but after that it didn't take him long to realize the truth behind my actions. I heard him growl softly and stand still as he pondered his next move. I thought he might leave because he never wanted to fight me in the first place, so he may just let me go. I knew he never wanted the sword, but it was more or less a hurt to his ego that someone can take what is his.

After a few minutes, he did walk away just as I thought he would and I sighed in relief and prepared to make my way back to the castle. I knew Naraku told me to kill him, but as long as I got the sword that was all he really wanted from this. I jumped down from the tree and walked in the opposite direction I saw Sesshomaru walking.

My ears perked, and I stopped and slowly turned my head around. Sesshomaru was heading straight for me, his sword was an ominous blue color and I knew he was moving too fast for me to move. I closed my eyes and braced myself, expecting only the worst. I could feel my side being torn, and it felt like my body was being torn in half from my waist. I couldn't feel pain yet, but I could feel the blood already pouring from my body. Then I felt a calming warmth surround me, and a burst of light blinded both me and Sesshomaru.

I must have died…so then why do I hear Naraku's voice?


End file.
